It is common practice for consumer beverages to be packaged in plastic bottles and sold cold, from some type of refrigerated storage. These beverages are usually purchased for immediate consumption, since they cannot stay cold very long without refrigeration. With the larger sized bottles (20 fluid ounces or more), the beverage usually warms up substantially before it is finished, even if consumed immediately.
If a person wants to buy a beverage and keep it cold for several hours, he or she must put the beverage in a refrigerator, thermos or ice chest. Sometimes people will freeze water inside a bottle so that it will stay cold longer without refrigeration. However this only works with water, since soft drinks and sports drinks separate when frozen. And even with water, freezing a bottle requires prior planning and effort.
Other than dispensing a beverage into an ice-filled cup, there are no commercially available beverages (e.g., soft drinks, sports drinks, etc.) sold in containers that will keep a beverage cold for any significant length of time. And even an ice-filled cup will warm up after a couple of hours.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,028 issued to Wilco R. Stuhmer describes a beverage container having a main beverage chamber and an ice chamber consisting of a polymeric film pouch located within the main chamber. By filling the ice chamber with ice, a beverage in the beverage chamber can be kept cold by virtue of the heat transfer from the beverage to the ice through the polymeric film. This configuration prevents dilution of the beverage from the melting ice. However, this invention requires that the container be filled with both the ice and the beverage just prior to consumption. There is no way to pre-package the beverage and the ice combination and store it without having either the ice melt or the beverage freeze.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,486 issued to David M. Menco describes a beverage container having an ice compartment below, and in heat exchange contact with, an upper beverage compartment. By scooping ice into the ice compartment (which opens downward) and closing the ice compartment with a watertight lid, the beverage in the beverage compartment can be kept cold by contact with the cold ice compartment. This invention is intended for use as a pitcher, not as a retail beverage container. And again, the container must be filled with ice and beverage just prior to use--there is no way to use this invention for pre-packaged beverages.
A number of patents have been issued relating to self-cooling beverage cans containing a refrigerant cooling system. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,273 to Fischer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,789 to Wilson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,039 to Allison, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,391 to Joslin all discuss beverage cans with a refrigerant-vaporization-based cooling systems (i.e., the cans all contain refrigerant which, when released, vaporizes thereby cooling the can). However no refrigerant-containing can has yet proven to be commercially viable.
Thus none of the prior art has provided a commercially viable means for selling pre-packaged beverages in self-cooling containers.
A primary objective of this invention is to provide a beverage container for selling pre-packaged beverages that will have a built-in ice cube, allowing the beverage to remain cold for many hours after it has been removed from refrigeration. If the container is opened immediately after removal from refrigerated storage, the beverage inside will remain cold for four hours or more.
Another primary objective of this invention is to provide a beverage container containing ice and having a slow-melting feature that will, if unopened, retain sufficient ice inside to cool the beverage for six or more hours after the un-insulated container has been removed from refrigeration.
Another primary objective of this invention is to provide a container having a beverage compartment and an ice compartment that can be kept in a dual-temperature-refrigerating device that will keep the ice frozen while simultaneously keeping the beverage unfrozen. Such dual-temperature refrigerating devices could include refrigerated display cases, freezers, vending machines, domestic refrigerator-freezers or other refrigerated display apparatus.
Another primary objective of this invention is to provide a self-cooling beverage container that is cost-effective to manufacture.
Another primary objective of this invention is to provide a self-cooling beverage container can be cost-effectively bottled (i.e., filled and capped).
Another primary objective of this invention is to provide a self-cooling beverage container that after bottling can be cost-effectively shipped, stored and/or displayed for retail sale.
Another primary objective of this invention is to provide a self-cooling beverage container utilizing ice as a source of cooling yet one that can be stored warm for any length of time.
Another primary objective of this invention is to provide a self-cooling beverage container that is structurally strong enough for use with carbonated beverages and will not cause those beverages to overflow from the container due to foaming.